Open [36.0 MB]

Melkorka,
daughter of
as a slave.
IDS THE SCANDINAVIANS. AND
BOOK ii. livened by all the attractions of a Norwegian fair.
g}aves W ere then articles of commerce in Scandi-
navia, as they long after continued to be in England ;
and Hoskulld, desirous to purchase a female slave,
entered the tent of Gille, a wealthy slave merchant,
who was distinguished by a " Russian hat." 1
Behind
a curtain which divided the tent twelve young
maidens were arranged for sale. Eleven of these
were valued at one mark each, but the twelfth, who
was valued more highly, w r as purchased by Hoskulld.
As money had not yet been coined in Norway, he
paid for her from " a purse which hung at his girdle"
5
in a scales." The
pretends to be three mark s of silver, "weighed
girl was dumb.
beautiful, but apparently dumb, and Hoskulld
gave her to his wife as a handmaid, having by
Is heard to
speak to her
son.
her a son, whom he called Olaf, after his grandfather,
Olafthe White, 3 and "Pa," or the Peacock, from his
stateliness and beauty.
After a lapse of years Hos-
kulld was surprised by overhearing the supposed
dumb mother speaking to her son. The discovery
led her to confess that, from a sense of degradation
she had remained mute, that her name was
Melkorka, and that her father was Miarkartan, King
of Ireland, from whence she had been carried captive
when fifteen years of age. 4
Hoskulld, by repeating
1 A Russian hat appears to hare
been a valuable article. It was one
of the presents made by King
Harold to
p.
Gunnair. Niall's Saga,
90.
2 In the Museum of Antiquities
of the Royal Irish Academy at
Dublin may be seen several pairs
of small scales, found with Danish
armour, used probably for this
purpose.
8 Hoskuldwas son of Thorgenla,
daughter of Thorstein the Red, son
of Olafthe White, otherwise Auluf,
King of Dublin. Landnamab., p.
43.
4 " Many were the blooming.
lively women, and the modest,
mild, comely maidens, &c., whom
they carried off into oppression